Rush Limbaugh: Climate Change Misinformer of the Year

In 1994 Rush Limbaugh declared, "There is no global warming going on," adding that scientists "admit" they "may need 20 years more data to prove it." Since then, Limbaugh has managed to shield his brain from 18 years of mounting evidence that humans are changing the climate. "Science has made enormous inroads in understanding climate change and its causes," according to the National Research Council's latest report assessing the state of climate science. "There is a strong, credible body of evidence, based on multiple lines of research, documenting that climate is changing and that these changes are in large part caused by human activities," the report said.

Limbaugh, whose radio show reportedly reaches roughly 14 million people per week, remains the most prominent and cocksure denier of human-induced climate change in the news industry. His unyielding belief that the world's earth scientists are perpetrating a "hoax" has led him to some interesting places this year, from declaring that the heat index is "manufactured by the government," to accusing NASA of sabotaging its own research satellite, to announcing that the National Academy of Sciences has "lost all credibility." Given his large following, Limbaugh's extreme and misguided position may well have influenced the Republican presidential primary by discouraging candidates from speaking about the threats posed by global warming. Indeed, Limbaugh made this litmus test explicit, saying "bye, bye, nomination" after Mitt Romney acknowledged the human contribution to climate change. For all this, on top of his typically bombastic distortions and obfuscations of climate science, Limbaugh wins the distinction of 2011 Climate Change Misinformer of the Year.

"Hoax": Rush Limbaugh's Intractable Climate Change Denial

Limbaugh: Global Warming "Is A Hoax ... I Get Blue In The Face Repeating This Over And Over Again." On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Al Gore wrote in his blog, "Good for Mitt Romney. Though we've long passed the point where weak lip service is enough on the climate crisis while other Republicans are running from the truth, Mitt Romney is sticking to his guns in the face of the anti-science wing of the Republican Party." There you go. So has been Romney endorsed by Algore on his stance on global warming, which is a hoax. There is no "settled science," as I get blue in the face repeating this over and over again. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/16/11]

Limbaugh: "I Don't Need Scientific Proof" To Know It's A Lie. From the March 8 edition of Limbaugh's radio show:

LIMBAUGH: How did I know global warming is a hoax? 'Cause of who's behind pushing it. Liberals. They lie.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: If there ever is scientific proof -- and see, I don't need scientific proof because to me the people who are promoting manmade global warming are a bunch of frauds. They are liberals, they lie. It's not a generalization. It is an undeniable truth of life. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 3/8/11]

Limbaugh: The National Academy Of Sciences Has "Lost All Credibility" Because Climate Change Is "Bogus." Responding to a caller who had questioned Mitt Romney about his stance on climate change at a New Hampshire debate, Limbaugh said that NAS had "lost all credibility" and that scientists "basically made it all up" at the University of East Anglia:

CALLER: I specifically quoted from a 2010 National Academy of Sciences report. I have two quotes here; the first is, they concluded -- and by the way, the National Academy of Sciences, as you know, is considered the Supreme Court of science in this country. It was founded in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln and it is charged with giving the Congress unbiased scientific information. Now their conclusion was quote "a strong credible body of scientific evidence shows that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems.

LIMBAUGH: Well it's called the University of East Anglia at Anglian -- the Hadley Climate Center where they basically made it all up, pure and simple. It's a hoax, there's nothing true about it. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/8/11]

Multiple investigations have cleared the scientists at the University of East Anglia of falsifying data. [Media Matters, 8/8/11]

Limbaugh: "Anything To Do With ... Climate Change Is Now An Official Scam." On August 30, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: And in fact all it is is a giant slush fund -- one slush fund after another, federal taxpayer dollars going to Democrat candidates, supporters, donors, what have you, under the guise of creating a new industry, "green jobs," weatherizing homes, protecting the environment, saving the climate. It's a huge, huge scam. Anything to do with energy and the environment that involves manmade global warming, climate change is now an official scam. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/30/11]

Limbaugh: The Science "Is Fraudulent And Is A Hoax." On November 10, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Despite proof now, despite evidence that global warming is a political issue, not a science issue, and that the science aspect of it is fraudulent and is a hoax, we have a story here from the French News Agency: "The World Has Five Years Now to Avoid Severe Warming." That's from the International Energy Agency.

[...]

The LA Times said it, and others have said that there's no warming. It's all over the place here. But they won't let this die. It's a political issue and it's an international left-wing hoax, this whole notion of manmade global warming climate change. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/10/11]

Limbaugh: Global Warming "Is A Religion ...There Is No Evidence." Discussing a government initiative to recognize schools that make efforts toward environmental sustainability, Limbaugh said on May 17:

LIMBAUGH: The plan is for the U.S. Department of Education, the EPA, and the Council for Environmental Quality to develop the criteria this spring and summer and to issue the call for applications early in the fall. All based on a hoax. All based on a fraud. All based on global warming, which by the way, is a religion. It's proponents cannot prove it. Belief in global warming requires faith because there is no evidence. There is no evidence of manmade destructive climate change, global warming, what have you. The evidence that we have suggests that the whole thing has been a hoax and a fraud. And yet, the left marches on, not educating but indoctrinating. And so now schools will be indoctrinating children to be good environmental citizens, which means wards of the state. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 5/17/11]

Limbaugh: God Would Not Create Humans "In Such A Way That We Would Destroy ... Our Own Planet And Environment." From the February 2 edition of Limbaugh's radio show:

LIMBAUGH: When you have a bunch of bureaucrats with the power guiding them that says greenhouse gases constitute a danger to the public health and welfare, there's no limits on them. I mean, when you're fighting danger, when you're fighting elements harmful to the public health and welfare, you can define anything you want however you need in order to exercise unchecked federal power. Martial law based on a hoax is one way of putting it. Now a greenhouse gas - one of them is what you exhale. Carbon dioxide, greenhouse gas, you exhale it and somehow we've gotten to the point where that is destroying the planet.

I happen to believe in God. I believe in a loving, brilliant - I know that this - there is no way, I don't want to sound simpleton here, but there is not - it is not possible that we would be created by a creator in such a way that we would destroy by virtue of our created existence our own planet and environment. It just doesn't compute and yet that's what these people are trying to tell us. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 2/2/11]

"I Live In Realville": Limbaugh's Climate Conspiracy Theories

Limbaugh: "A Majority Of People Have Been Paid To Say That Man Is Causing The Climate To Warm Up." On June 22, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: See, and these are the smart people, and there isn't any science in the global warming these people believe in. Folks, if there were science, I'd be a believer. I do not have my head buried in the sand. I'm not an ostrich. I live in Realville. I'm the mayor. I'm the town council president. I'm the police chief. There aren't a whole lot of people that live in Literalville, but I do. And manmade global warming is not science. It's a consensus. It's a guess. It's a good guess. It's a best guess. It's a vote. And a majority of people have been paid to say that man is causing the climate to warm up. And that's why there's global warming, that enough people have been paid to say so. "You can't say that, Mr. Limbaugh, you are attacking the integrity of decent --" well, they've been paid. Their entire lifestyles, their standard of living depends on their grants that they get to conduct the studies, and they only get the money if they come up with the right result. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/22/11]

Limbaugh: The Heat Index Is "Manufactured By The Government." During the July heat wave that impacted half of the U.S., Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: They're playing games with us on this heat wave, again. Even Drudge - Drudge getting sucked in here, gonna be 116 in Washington. No, it's not. It's gonna be like a hundred. Maybe 99. The heat index, manufactured by the government, to tell you what it feels like when you add the humidity in there, 116. When's the last time the heat index was reported as an actual temperature? It hasn't been, but it looks like they're trying to get away with doing that now. 116. Drudge is just linking to other people reporting it, he's not saying it, I don't want you to misunderstand, but he's linking to stories which say 116 degrees in Washington. No. It's what, a hundred, 97, 99? It's gonna top out at 102, 103, it does this every year. We have this -- there's a heat dome over half the country, the Midwest, it's moving east. And it happens every summer. Every summer. If we want to cool things off, please, Al Gore, schedule a global warming conference wherever -- in Washington, go there. You want that 116 to get normal, it will, within an hour of Gore announcing that he's going, another ten degrees off when he shows up, plus hail and rain and maybe some high winds to really cool people off. That's all that has to happen. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 7/20/11]

Limbaugh: People Believe In Global Warming Because Air Conditioners Make It Seem Hotter Outside. During the July heat wave, Limbaugh theorized that people believe global warming is real because air conditioning has lowered "the baseline you're using for comparison":

LIMBAUGH: I have a theory about global warming and why people think it's real. Go back 30, 40 years when there was much less air conditioning in the country. When you didn't have air conditioning and you left the house, it may in fact have gotten a little cooler out there, because sometimes houses become hot boxes. Especially if you're on the second or third floor of a house in the summertime and all you've got is open windows and maybe a window fan. Or you have some servant standing there fanning you with a piece of paper. When you walked outside, no big deal, it's still hot as hell. Now, 30, 40 years later, all this air conditioning, and it's a huge difference when you go outside. When you go outside now, my golly, is it hot. Oh. Global warming! It's all about the baseline you're using for comparison. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 7/26/11]

Limbaugh Speculated That NASA Intentionally Crashed Satellite To Preserve Global Warming "Hoax." Conceding that his theory was a "stretch," Limbaugh speculated on March 4 that NASA intentionally crashed a climate research satellite so that there would not be "any officially collected data which will contradict" the global warming "hoax":

LIMBAUGH: Now, I'm not a conspiracy buff here. The satellite -- the earlier one that ended up in the Pacific was called the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, it crashed on take-off almost exactly two years ago to the day. It was up there studying various aspects of global warming. We know global warming is a hoax, and we know that elements of NASA have been part of it. And we know that the regime runs NASA. We know that the regime has shut down the shuttle -- no more manned space flights, we know that the regime was going to turn NASA itself over to Muslim outreach. We know that the regime is dead-set on people believing that humanity is destroying the planet via climate change, global warming, or what have you. And we know that the regime is hell-bent on getting rid of fossil fuels. We know that the regime is hell-bent on creating this so far nonexistent green energy technology. We know that the regime owns manufacturing an automobile manufacturing plant manufacturing an electric car called the Volt, marketed by Chevrolet. The regime owns all of this. We also know, thanks to leaked emails from the Hadley Climate Center at the University of East Anglia, that all this is a hoax, or at best a fraud -- man-made global warming.

So, two satellites, two years apart, to the day, same kind of rocket, kerplunk -- Pacific Ocean. Why waste this money that could have gone to the poor, and to women and minorities? $424 million -- do you realize it's in the Southern Pacific now? Look at all the people it could have fed. Look at all the subprime mortgages it could have financed, look at all the affordable housing it could've bought, look at all the Chevy Volts they could've given away to people under the guise of sales. So at least, at least there will not be officially collected data by these two satellites because they don't exist, they're in the ocean. At least there will not be any officially collected data which would contradict the facts -- that is that there is no man-made global warming going on. In fact, there might not be any warming, period, going on. So that's my limited theory and it's probably a stretch. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 3/4/11]

Limbaugh doubled down on his conspiracy theory about the satellite on March 8:

LIMBAUGH: Now we got two satellites, two years to the day, same problem, failing -- fails to open. Satellites, instead of being in orbit are now at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean near Antarctica. You know what they were up there to do? You know what they were up there to study? They were up there to study whether or not there are naturally occurring events that might cause climate change. Well, now, they can't find whether or not there are naturally occurring things, meaning also they were there to investigate whether there is a manmade component to climate change. Well, can't find that out now. Well, who benefits? Now I don't want to go getting off into conspiracy stuff here, but two satellites, two years to the date apart, both end up in the same spot? Who benefits?

You look at -- one of my old axioms, always follow the money. One of the reasons that there is this big, never ending manmade push -- or push for manmade global warming is 'cause that's who gets the money. When the grant money comes around, if you believe manmade global warming, you get your share of it. Well, the last thing that bunch needs is scientific proof that man has nothing to do with it. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 3/8/11]

Limbaugh: Media Are Reporting The Weather To "Advance A Political Agenda Of Liberalism." Discussing the July heat wave, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Did you know, ladies and gentlemen, almost no temperature records were broken in last week's "record-breaking heat"? It is remotely possible because what we got in news reporting last week was a bunch of untruths, was a bunch of lies. "Record breaking," quote, unquote, "US Heat Wave Breaks Records at Less Than 0.4% of All Stations Reporting Last Week." I was in Boston. In Boston the heat index was reported to be 110, 112. They weren't even bothering to report the temperature. I found it. The temperature in Boston on Saturday (or maybe it was Friday) hit 102 -- one degree short of the record, which -- do you know when the record of 103 was? 1926!

So the point is, there is almost nothing true in mainstream, Drive-By Media. Everything being reported today is to advance a political agenda of liberalism. Because, of course, "Record-breaking heat may last for weeks! Giant dome over two-thirds of country! No relief in sight! People stealing copper, people stealing air conditioners. It's never been seen!" All of it lies. Well, the crime reporting probably wasn't lies, but the temperature? All of it was lies so that on-air doofus TV meteorologists could dutifully follow up with global warming, and, "How about those deniers?" Media myth debunked: Almost no temperature records broken last week. Live it, love it, dig it. Whatever it takes. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 7/25/11]

In fact thousands of records were broken that July, which was not the same as "every year." [Media Matters, 7/26/11]

"Bye, Bye": Limbaugh's Climate Denial Litmus Test

Limbaugh: "It's Certainly Not The Kind Of Thing Any Serious Political Candidate Ought To Believe In." From the June 10 edition of Limbaugh's show:

LIMBAUGH: You know, folks, belief in manmade global warming is a lot like believing in Santa Claus. It's fun. It's fun to believe in it for a while when you're a kid, when you're a child, but it's a costly myth to continue believing in as you grow older. And it's certainly not the kind of thing any serious political candidate ought to believe in. Now, I continue to be struck by just how imprisoned the so-called informed and educated smart people among us are. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/10/11]

MITT ROMNEY (audio clip): I believe the world is getting warmer. I can't prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer -- and -- and number two, I believe that humans contribute to that. I don't know how much our contribution is to that 'cause I know there's been -- there have been periods of -- of greater heat and -- and warmth in the past, but I believe that we contribute to that, and so I think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that you're seeing.

LIMBAUGH: Bye, bye, nomination. Bye, bye nomination. Another one down. We're in the midst here of discovering that this is all a hoax. The last year has established that the whole premise of manmade global warming is a hoax, and we still have presidential candidates who want to buy into it. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/7/11]

UPI reported that Romney shifted his framing of global warming science following Limbaugh's comments. Romney subsequently said, "Do I think the world's getting hotter? Yeah, I don't know that but I think that it is. I don't know if it's mostly caused by humans. What I'm not willing to do is spend trillions of dollars on something I don't know the answer to." [UPI, 10/28/11]

LIMBAUGH: "Bye, bye nomination." I said it June 7th, and it is, it looks like it's just fading away out there. And you want to know? Some of you may remember this. After I said, "Bye, bye, nomination," one of the talking heads in the media -- one of the talking heads in the media said, "Thanks to Rush Limbaugh, all of these Republican candidates are terrified now of reaching out to mainstream voters."

[...]

Mainstream voters believe in hoaxes! Mainstream voters believe the lies, and so we've got to appeal to the mainstream by telling 'em we believe the lies! And now "Limbaugh is gumming up the works," and "Limbaugh is making our guys afraid to reach out to mainstream voters." These are Republicans talking! They don't want your vote!

Well, they want it, but they don't want it to matter. They don't want your vote putting anybody over the top. They don't want your vote being the difference in who wins or loses. They want your vote. But they want our people to win with these independents and moderates, and so you go out and you tell the candidate to say, "Oh, yeah, there's global warming, and you know what? I think humans are causing it." Right, go out and try to take an issue away from Obama? You wanna -- you think you're gonna get liberal moderate votes simply by telling people -- it's idiocy! [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 12/12/11]

Limbaugh Lashed Out At Gingrich: "No! ... There Isn't Any Global Warming." From the November 9 edition of Limbaugh's show:

NEWT GINGRICH (audio clip): I actually don't know whether global warming is occurring. The vast majority of the National Academy of Science says it is; a minority says it is not. Science is not actually voted on; science is a function of truth.

LIMBAUGH: Newt, Newt, Newt, Newt. No!

GINGRICH (audio clip): What I do know is that -- that if you look at exactly what's said in that ad, finding innovative new ways of getting cleaner energy ought to be something most Americans feel pretty comfortable with.

LIMBAUGH: See, this is what happens. He just went five sentences too far. There isn't any global warming. I mean, even the NASA people, they're now trying to explain why the cooling is taking place, and they're trying to come up with all kinds of lies and escape-hatch reasons why there isn't any warming, it's some temporary thing. There is no global warming. It's getting colder. The charts, the data, it all proves it. And so to say that conservatives need to be in the middle of the debate over the environment, we need to be in the middle of killing -- it is nothing more than a left-wing political weapon aimed at growing government, limiting freedom, raising taxes by blaming people for causing climate destruction, and the way you make 'em pay for it, save the planet, is to raise their taxes. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/09/11]

Limbaugh: Chris Christie Must Make Steps Toward Denying Global Warming "If He Has Any Hope Of Getting Primary" Votes. On the May 26 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: The last line of the Daily Caller piece: "Christie, however, has said he still believes in global warming but is skeptical that it is entirely manmade." That's another step. Ever so few but nevertheless steps that Governor Christie is making in a direction certainly he has to go if he has any hope of getting primary voters to vote for him. [5/26/11]

Limbaugh: "Frustrating" That Rick Perry Has "Some Reluctance" To Say Manmade Global Warming Isn't Real. On the September 8 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh discussed the Republican debate hosted by NBC News and Politico and stated:

LIMBAUGH: Look, okay, how did Perry bear up under the target? Romney clearly came away unscathed last night. Perry was not unscathed. Perry had problems with the climate change thing. It was very frustrating to me. This is a hoax! You got this guy Huntsman out there spreading a bunch of garbage that 98% of all scientists agree that manmade global warming is taking place? It's a hoax! It's bogus. And Perry knows it, and there was some reluctance to say so. I'm not expecting him to say it's a hoax, but there was clearly some reluctance here to say what he really thinks about it that answer, which came at the end of the debate. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 9/8/11]

Limbaugh: "Do You Realize That Romney Believes In Manmade Global Warming? ... Now, I Happen To Know It's A Hoax." On the October 12 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Do you realize that Romney believes in manmade global warming? As governor of Massachusetts he took positions and endorsed policies that would promote the whole concept of manmade global warming. Now, I happen to know it's a hoax. I happen to know that there's no such thing as manmade global warming, not as an explanation for climate change. And that's just one thing. Sorry, folks, I see a great opportunity here. We have a liberal socialist president who is as discredited as one is ever going to be. We have circumstances that are dire. The country needs to be turned around if we're gonna preserve.

You know what? I could check out. I really could. I don't need to work anymore. I could get rid of a lot of grief, I could get rid of a lot of distractions, just punt. But it matters too much to me. When I see these yokels marching down on Wall Street, the so-called future of the country, I get scared. I know they're small in number, but I know that there a lot of people that think like that, they've been educated this way. They're gonna have to be beaten, defeated. And everybody who is responsible for them thinking what they think is going to have to be dealt with at some point if this is gonna be turned around, the 80 years of the slow creep of socialism in this country. And the answer to it is not pabulum. [10/12/11]

"We Win": Limbaugh's Climate Disinformation Machine

Limbaugh Took "Credit" For Public Misconception About "Climategate." Stating "We win," Limbaugh celebrated a Rasmussen Reports poll finding that a majority of Americans believe "some scientists" have likely "falsified research data" to support "their own theories and beliefs about global warming":

LIMBAUGH: "While a majority of Americans nationwide continue to acknowledge significant disagreement about global warming in the scientific community, most go even further to say that some scientists are falsifying data to support their own beliefs." I'm going to raise my hand and I'm going to take credit. This has been one of my pet peeve issues for as long as I've had this show.

[...]

And 69% of the American people now say it's likely scientists have been lying about their own research. We win. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/4/11]

Following the 2009 release of hacked emails from a climate research center in the UK, Limbaugh had claimed that the documents showed "a lot of evidence of substantial fraud," adding: "Now we've got the hoax fully exposed." He continues to make this claim even after multiple investigations found no falsification of data. [Media Matters,8/8/11]

Limbaugh Pushed Flawed Climate Study That Led To Resignation Of Journal Editor. Limbaugh pushed a study by his "official climatologist" Dr. Roy Spencer, claiming Spencer "proved, with actual NASA science data from their satellites, that all these computer models are bogus." In fact, Spencer conceded that his study did not prove any such thing, and MIT's Kerry Emanuel said "there is nothing in the paper that casts in doubt what the IPCC models are telling us." The editor of the journal that published the study later resigned after concluding that it should "not have been published." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/4/11; Media Matters, 8/1/11, 9/2/11]

Limbaugh Distorted Research To Claim "The Earth Is Facing A Mini-Ice Age." On the June 16 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh said "the earth is facing a mini-ice age within ten years due to a rare drop in sunspot activity":

LIMBAUGH: Guess what? The earth is facing a mini-ice age within ten years due to a rare drop in sunspot activity, and yet Al Gore has just endorsed Mitt Romney. Well, he didn't endorse him, but he's praised Mitt Romney for his stance on manmade global warming. Sunspots expected to disappear for years, maybe decades after 2020, and that could cause a mini-ice age. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/16/11]

In fact, the authors of the study said that changes in solar activity "could counter 'global warming' somewhat," but that they "are NOT predicting a mini-ice age." [Media Matters, 6/15/11]

Limbaugh Misrepresented Climate Study To Say "We Ought To Start Burning Coal Left And Right." On the July 6 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh discussed a study indicating that the increase in sun-blocking sulfur emissions from Chinese coal use partially offset the warming effect of rising greenhouse gas concentrations. Limbaugh responded by completely misrepresenting what the greenhouse effect is:

LIMBAUGH: This is truly hilarious. A scientist set out to prove the global warming skeptics at Fox wrong, which, by the way, is the epitome of bad science. That's not how you do science is to go prove somebody else wrong. Anyway, he wanted to find an explanation for the lack of any global warming over the last ten years, so he blames China's burning of coal because that prevents the sun's rays from reaching the earth, which is exactly what they used to call the greenhouse effect, which is what they used to call global warming.

So I don't know how to accept this. The very culprit is now being cited as the savior, or the explanation for why there hasn't been any warming. So by this guy's study and reason, we ought to start burning coal left and right if indeed there's global warming going on. We ought to throw away this green energy crap right now and just go all coal, all the time. More hilarious, the study claims that temperatures rose in the seventies after nations started to take action to curb sulfur emissions. So the real culprits to blame for global warming are the environmentalists who made us cut back on our use of coal. That's what we have to conclude here. (laughing) China's coal burning stopped global warming. How many of you, seriously, ask yourself, how many of you heard for years now that coal leads to global warming? Now the temperatures didn't rise, they didn't go up out there for ten years, and they panicked, and experts at Fox were saying, "See, there's no global warming," so this yuckety-yuck had to go into action -- get into action to try figure out the explanation. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 7/6/11]

Limbaugh failed to note that sulfur emissions have severe health effects, which is why they were regulated in the first place. [Media Matters, 7/5/11]

Limbaugh Lashed Out At Coca-Cola For Perpetuating "The Polar Bear Hoax." On the October 31 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Coca-Cola, by the way, it's so sad, it's so sad, but it's great for my tea company. Well, they're changing their packaging. They're going to white cans. They've aligned with the World Wildlife Fund. They're gonna repackage Coke over the holiday season to go to white cans featuring an image of a mother polar bear and her cubs on the side. They're gonna try to sell Coke and Diet Coke on the basis that we're killing polar bears. Kid you not. Kid you not. Each purchase of a white Coca-Cola can supports false testimony on global warming perpetration of the myth about endangered polar bears. It's a hoax and they are raising money for a hoax through the holidays by way of the sale of Coke products in white polar bear cans. Who got to 'em? You know -- I'm thinking nobody woulda had to get to 'em.

There are plenty of stupid people in this country, in fact, running corporations and working, and they look out there and think, "Okay, the rest of the stupid people think that the polar bears are dying. So I want to sell Coke, so I'll market to the stupid people. I'll market to people who believe Al Gore. I'll change the marketing of my company and my product and I'll just aim for the lowest stupid common denominator I can find. I'll do it with the polar bear hoax." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 10/31/11]

In fact, extensive research establishes the threat posted to polar bears by climate change due to rapid changes to their sea ice habitats. [Media Matters, 8/2/11]

Limbaugh Confused Ozone Hole And Global Warming. On the October 3 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh criticized a FDA rule phasing out asthma inhalers that contain chlorofluorocarbons, which deplete the ozone layer. But Limbaugh mistakenly claimed that global warming was the reason behind the rule:

LIMBAUGH: On Jan. 1, a new federal rule meant to make the air cleaner is going to make it much harder for millions of Americans to breathe. The Food and Drug Administration is waging war on asthma inhalers because they emit trace amounts of greenhouse gases.

Global warming, climate change. It's a hoax! It's a fraud! Does the EPA care? No. This is the regime. It's power. They haven't even acknowledged that it's a hoax. They continue to create policies to deal with global warming, climate change, greenhouse gases. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 10/3/11]

The plans to phase out the inhalers were finalized during the Bush administration and are part of the U.S.'s actions to comply with the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to protect the ozone layer that was signed by Ronald Reagan. [Media Matters, 9/23/11] [The American Presidency Project, 4/5/88]

Limbaugh Claimed "NASA Documents" Warn Us To "Adopt Lunatic Global Warming Policies" To Avoid Alien Invasion. Limbaugh falsely claimed in August that "NASA documents" were warning that aliens "will invade us to wipe us out, to prevent us from destroying our climate." A caller later corrected Limbaugh.

LIMBAUGH: Basically you have here a crackpot leftist scientist with influence in NASA coming in the form of an actual NASA employee producing actual NASA documents warning that if we don't adopt lunatic global warming policies of Al Gore's, space aliens will invade us to wipe us out, to prevent us from destroying our climate! Here's a quote from the story. Folks, this is in the UK Guardian. This story is presented with all the sincerity of any news story that you might find on the front page of any newspaper any day of the week. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/29/11]

In fact, the paper, which asked whether contact with extraterrestrial intelligence "would benefit or harm humanity," was not NASA research or produced with NASA support. Shawn Domagal-Goldman, a co-author on the paper, said he is "a lowly postdoc" at NASA and "this paper had nothing to do with my work there." [Media Matters, 8/19/11]

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Right-wing media outlets are parroting the attacks of an anti-LGBTQ hate group on Connecticut’s openly gay comptroller, Kevin Lembo. Lembo recently sent the American Family Association (AFA) a letter asking the group to submit written documentation certifying it complies with the nondiscrimination regulations governing the Connecticut State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving (CSEC), which allows Connecticut State employees to contribute to qualifying non-profit charities through payroll deductions. Lembo’s office has since been “flooded” with emails and phone calls from AFA supporters.